Louis the German and Obodrites and Danes from the Treaty of Verdun in 843

Abstract

Having been entangled in wars with the Veleti since the eight century and under a threat of expansion from the state of Denmark, the Obodrites decided to enter into an alliance with Charlemagne and with his successor Louis the Pious. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 was followed by other alliances with the Danes that were entered into by Obodrite rulers. This met with unfavorable response from the Franks. For Louis the German, who was at war with, among others, Gostomysl and Dobomysl, relations with the Obodrites were one of the major problems which he failed to resolve entirely, despite the fact that his opponents could not rely on potential support from Danish rulers – Horik I, Horik II the Younger and Sigfrid, who strove to maintain harmonious relations with the East Frankish ruler in spite of attacking his lands, especially in 845 when they conquered and destroyed Hamburg. Thus, the main objective of this article is to investigate – based mainly on source materials such as annals – the course of fighting that took place between Louis the German, and the Danes and the Obodrites, and to find an answer to the question whether his opponents were acting independently or in alliance when attacking the east Frankish state. In order to achieve more clarity on the research problems addressed, the article has been divided into two parts: the first part discusses Frankish-Danish-Obodrite relations until the signing of the Verdun treaty in 843, that is to say the period before the actual break-up of Charlemagne’s and his successor’s state into three independent political organism; while the second part describes Louis the German’s struggle against the Danes and the Obodrites, when his cooperation with other representatives of the Carolingian monarchy, with regard to the elimination of the Danish threat (Lothar II), occurred only occasionally.